Beverly Chandler, Opalesque London: Brian Forrester, investment partner at Deloitte has commented on the UK’s HM Treasury’s latest AIFMD paper, saying: "The position taken by the Treasury in its AIFMD consultation paper goes significantly beyond the minimum rules contained in the Directive for small hedge fund managers. While the Treasury does not propose to apply the full Directive to managers of unregulated collective investment schemes, it does propose to apply similar rules to those that are currently applicable to operators of retail investment funds. This will include requiring those firms to appoint a depositary."

A survey by Deloitte last summer AIFMD Survey: Responding to the new reality found that small hedge fund managers would be hit hardest by the Directive, with the single biggest increase in ongoing costs caused by the requirement to appoint a depositary. "Smaller hedge fund managers will be unhappy having to bear these costs, which the Directive itself requires only of larger fund managers" Forrester said.

Other key findings of the Deloitte survey included:

More than two-thirds (68%) believe that AIFMD will reduce the competitiveness of the EU’s......................